Energy index for aircraft maneuvers

Abstract

Method and system for analyzing, separately or in combination, kinetic energy and potential energy and / or their time derivatives, measured or estimated or computed, for an aircraft in approach phase or in takeoff phase, to determine if the aircraft is or will be put in an anomalous configuration in order to join a stable approach path or takeoff path. A reference value of kinetic energy and / or potential energy (or time derivatives thereof) is provided, and a comparison index for the estimated energy and reference energy is computed and compared with a normal range of index values for a corresponding aircraft maneuver. If the computed energy index lies outside the normal index range, this phase of the aircraft is identified as anomalous, non-normal or potentially unstable.

Description

ORIGIN OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention was made, in part, by one or more employees of the U.S. government. The U.S. government has the right to make, use and / or sell the invention described herein without payment of compensation therefor, including but not limited to payment of royalties.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to monitoring and analysis of kinetic energy and potential energy of an ascending or descending aircraft.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]An aircraft that is ascending following takeoff or descending on approach will have measurable kinetic energy and potential energy components, and these components will change with time in measurable manners. Desirable energy states for both takeoff and landing can be determined from aircraft manufacturer guidance for these phases of flight. For example, where the approach occurs at an airport with an operable and reliable instrument landing system (ILS), the ILS system may provide data recorded on the aircra...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]These needs are met by the invention, which provides a method and a system for monitoring an ascending or descending aircraft to determine if the kinetic and/or potential energy of the aircraft is within, or is outside of, a range for a normal flight. ...

Problems solved by technology

The airline industry has become concerned with the problem of unstable aircraft approaches, because approach and landing accidents often begin as unstable approaches.

In contrast, where these findings were used to define and search for a high-energy arrival exceedance, about three times as many excedances were detected; and the resulting unstable approaches were found to occur more frequently than the recoveries.

It may be possible to identify a first class of high energy arrivals where recovery and subsequent stabilization is possible and relatively easy, and a second class of high energy arrivals in which recovery and subsequent stabilization is likely to be difficult or impossible.

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